Content:
A seemingly complete draft of a piece of journalism, with corrections and notes to the printer, written in late June 1872. The specificity of Whitman's notes to the printer, including instructions about which page and column to print the piece on, would suggest that Whitman had a specific paper in mind for its publication. It is unclear, however, which paper, if any, ever published the piece. Whitman's instructions to publish the article "on Friday June 28th or Saturday June 29th [1872]" would suggest that it was a daily paper, possibly in Washington, D.C., where Whitman was living at the time. Written in the third-person, the piece reviews Whitman's own performance at Dartmouth College's commencement in 1872, where he read his newly published poem, "As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free." The article then turns to a broader discussion of the style and themes of Whitman's poetry, with speculation about whether he may be "a real national poet." It reaches the conclusion that "Walt Whitman is certainly taking position as an original force and new power in literature." At the end is pasted a corrected proof of the poem "By Broad Potomac's Shore," which Whitman intended to be published along with the self-review. The poem had first appeared in the just-published volume
As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free
(1872), along with the title poem and five others.
